Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from 1 Kings chapter
6. And it came to pass in the 480th year after
the children of Israel had come out of the land
of Egypt in the fourth year of Solomon's reign
over Israel in the month of Ziv, which is the
second month that he began to build the house
of the Lord. Now the house which King Solomon
built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits,
its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits.
The vestibule in front of the sanctuary of the
house was twenty cubits long across the width
of the house, and the width of the vestibule
extended ten cubits from the front of the house.
And he made for the house windows with beveled
frames. Against the wall of the temple he built
chambers all around against the walls of the
temple, all around the sanctuary and the inner
sanctuary. Thus he made side chambers all around
it. The lowest chamber was five cubits wide,
the middle was six cubits wide, and the third
was seven cubits wide. For he made narrow ledges
around the outside of the temple, so that the
support beams would not be fastened into the
walls of the temple. and the temple when it was
being built was built with stones finished at
the quarry so that no hammer or chisel or any
iron tool was heard in the temple while it was
being built the doorway for the middle story
was on the right side of the temple they went
up by stairs to the middle story and from the
middle to the third so he built the temple and
finished it and he paneled the temple with beams
and boards of cedar and he built side chambers
against the entire temple Each five cubits high,
they were attached to the temple with cedar beams.
Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,
Concerning this temple which you are building,
if you walk in my statutes, execute my judgments,
keep all my commandments, and walk in them, then
I will perform my word with you which I spoke
to your father David, and I will dwell among
the children of Israel, and will not forsake
my people Israel. So Solomon built the temple
and finished it, and he built the inside walls
of the temple with cedar boards, from the floor
of the temple to the ceiling he paneled the inside
with wood, and he covered the floor of the temple
with planks of cypress. Then he built the twenty
-cubit room at the rear of the temple from floor
to ceiling with cedar boards. He built it inside
as the inner sanctuary, as the most holy place,
and in front of it the temple sanctuary was forty
cubits long. The inside of the temple was cedar,
carved with ornamental buds and open flowers.
All was cedar, there was no stone to be seen.
And he prepared the inner sanctuary inside the
temple to set the ark of the covenant of the
Lord there. The inner sanctuary was 20 cubits
long, 20 cubits wide, and 20 cubits high. He
overlaid it with pure gold and overlaid the altar
of cedar. So Solomon overlaid the inside of the
temple with pure gold. He stretched gold chains
across the front of the inner sanctuary and overlaid
it with gold. The whole temple he overlaid with
gold until he had finished all the temple. Also
he overlaid with gold the entire altar that was
by the inner sanctuary. Inside the inner sanctuary
he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten
cubits high. One wing of the cherub was five
cubits, and the other wing of the cherub five
cubits. Ten cubits from the tip of one wing to
the tip of the other. And the other cherub was
ten cubits. Both cherubim were of the same size
and shape. The height of the cherub was ten cubits,
and so was the other cherub. Then he set the
cherubim inside the inner room, and they stretched
out the wings of the cherubim, so that the wing
of the one touched one wall, and the wing of
the other cherub touched the other wall, and
their wings touched each other in the middle
of the room. Also he overlaid the cherubim with
gold. Then he carved all the walls of the temple
all around, both the inner and outer sanctuaries,
with carved figures of cherubim. palm trees and
open flowers, and the floor of the temple he
overlaid with gold both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made
doors of olive wood, the lintel and doorposts
were one -fifth of the wall. The two doors were
of olive wood, and he carved on them figures
of cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and
overlaid them with gold, and he spread gold on
the cherubim and on the palm trees. So for the
door of the sanctuary he also made doorposts
of olive wood, one -fourth of the wall, and the
two doors were of cypress wood, two panels comprised
one folding door, and two panels comprised the
other folding door. Then he carved cherubim,
palm trees, and opened flowers on them, and overlaid
them with gold applied evenly on the carved work.
And he built the inner court with three rows
of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams. In the
fourth year, the foundation of the house of the
Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. And in the
eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is
the eighth month, the house was finished in all
its details and according to all its plans. So
he was seven years in building it. I hope you
enjoyed today's reading as much as I did, and
I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow to
continue on our journey. God bless you and have
a great day.